Ryker BeckEvery now and again, you come across the kind of fishing hack you wish you’d in fact come across quite a number of years ago. These days, the fact that the web in general is explosively packed with so much information on all types of fishing and fishing tips is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, tapping into a world of information has never been easier. On the other, actually finding any genuinely helpful information and avoiding a ridiculous arsenal of entirely contradictory information is something else entirely.
Of course, it tends to be by way of trial and error that most anglers come up with their own pearls of wisdom the likes of which serve them well from then on in. Still, it’s great to benefit from the trials and errors of others in order to tap into pure-gold tips, tricks and hacks the likes of which you may personally have never come across.
So whether it’s deep sea fishing in Turks and Caicos Islands or something a little closer to home that’s on the cards, here’s a quick introduction to six essential fishing hacks you’re guaranteed to live by:
1 – Fishy Fingers
First up, if you find yourself trying in vain for hours or even days after a fishing trip to get rid of that fishy smell from your skin, you’re not alone. Quite to the contrary in fact as millions of anglers all over the world spend extraordinary periods of time scrubbing, scraping and frantically washing their hands, only to still find things smelling less than ideal. Interestingly however…and in this instance we won’t get bogged down with the science…stainless steel has the miraculous ability to remove various skin odours – including fish.From metal bowls to cutlery to the very kitchen sink itself, simply rub wet hands over anything made of stainless steel and you won’t believe the difference.
2 – Wax it Up
If you’ve ever faced the problem of your rod ends or ‘ferrules’ getting well and truly stuck and making it a nightmare to separate your rods for transportation and storage, there’s a brilliantly simple hack for preventing this entirely. Basically, all you need is a tiny bit of beeswax which can be obtained from any standard beeswax candle. Just apply a very thin coat of beeswax where the connections are made and this will help ensure the ends slide easily apart with no excessive effort and less chance of breakages.
3 – Hot Water
There’s really nothing more annoying than finding yourself facing the mother of all angling headaches having recently spooled your latest line onto the reel of your choosing. It’s something pretty much every angler at every level has faced at some point or another – usually down to the fact that they weren’t able to wait long enough for the line to form the ‘memory’ needed to keep it tightly in place. Once again, the good news is that there’s a simple hack for taking care of this and ensuring your line builds this spooled memory pretty much in an instant. Rather than waiting for it to happen naturally, try instead running the reel and the newly-spooled line under a hot tap for about 45 seconds. This speeds up the process enormously and leaves you with a perfectly conformed line.
4 – No Guts, No Glory
The fact that you can’t always coincide your fishing trips with garbage day can often leave you with a whole bunch of guts hanging around, the likes of which never fail to stink up the place. Which isn’t necessarily the end of the world if you’re using them as fertiliser, but when they’re hanging around the home, it’s rather unpleasant to say the least. So instead of putting up with a serious stink, try instead triple-bagging the guts in decent-quality carrier bags and sticking them in the fridge. This will minimise or eliminate the smell entirely, until the next garbage collection comes around.
5 – The Big Snip
Last but not least, there are plenty of ways and means by which braided line can be cut, though this is undoubtedly one of the simplest and most effective. Simply invest in a cheap milk bag cutter from any supermarket or grocery store and keep it in your pocket at all times. Not only does the plastic housing keep things nice and safe along the way, but the fact that you will only use these cutters for one specific purpose means it will stay brilliantly sharp for the long-term.